«n 


PA' ANGELICAL  mktJt  8O0IETY,  ?  Xfo     fil 

WOKDS    OF   WARNING. 

"  Wuc  unto  the  v:kkcd!  H  shall  be  ill  ivith  him.'' — IsA.  iii.  11. 

*'To  whom  the  mist  of  Jarkness  is  reserved  for  r?vi-/' — 2  Pet.  ii.  17. 

Unconverted  Sinner,  thy  state  is  sad,  and  thy  misery  is 
great !  No  ton;j:ne  can  tell  how  sad  is  that  state — no  soul 
can  conceive  how  great  is  that  misery.  Thine  heart  ir.ay  well 
meditate  terror,  for  thou  art  still  unpardoned,  uncleansed, 
unsaved  !  Thy  feet  arc  just  about  to  stumble  upon  the  dark 
mountains ;  and  woe,  woe,  yea,  ten  thousand  times  woe  to 
thy  poor  soul,  if  this  night  it  were  required  uf  thee.  Poor 
forlorn  soul  I  Thou  hast  no  God,  and  therefore  thou  hast  no 
happiness  !  Thou  hast  no  (^'hrist,  and  therefore  tiiou  hast  no 
])ardon,  no  peace !  Thou  art  without  a  lather,  without  a 
friend,  without  a  hope,  and  without  a  home  !  This  earth  is 
truly  to  thee  "a  wilderness  and  a  hiiid  of  darlvucss,"  Thou 
walkest  through  it  a  houseless,  homeless  wanderer ;  no  arm 
to  lean  upon,  no  chosen  compiniou  of  your  secret  thoughts 
and  feelings;  no  friend  to  soothe  yonr  griefs  or  share  your 
joys  I  Thou  mayest  have  what  men  call  a  father,  a  brother, 
a  home,  on  earth ;  but  thou  canst  not  call  G^d  thy  father, 
nor  Jesus  thy  brother,  nor  heaven  thy  honie  above  !  Thou 
wanderest  on  from  day  to  day,  a  houseless  homeless  outcast, 
seeing  nothing  around  thee  but  trouble  and  sorrow,  and  noth- 
ing before  thee  or  above  thee  but  the  bLT^lsUcss  of  darkness 
for  ever  I     Jude  lo. 

Thoit  art  an  enemy  to  God\  Kom.  viii.  7.  Aud  who  has 
ever  hardened  his  heart  against  Him  and  prospered  \  An 
enemy  to  the  blessed  God  .■  An  enemy  to  Him  that  made 
thee, — to  one  that  has  never  wronged  thee  in  ought, — to  one 
that  has  loved  thee  with  a  love  so  true  and  tender  as  to  give 
for  theo  His  only  begotten  Sou !  Yea,  thou  hatest  Him ! 
John  XV.  24.  Thou  treatest  Him  as  if  He  were  some  hateful 
and  hated  fellow- worm,  whose  company  thou  couldst  not 
endure.  Job  xxi.  11.  O  what  vile  ingratitude,  what  desperate 
malignity,  thus  to  return  enmity  for  friendship,  hatred  and 
scorn  for  gentleness  and  love  !  The  most  lovable  object  iu 
all  the  universe  is  the  object  that  thou  hatest  most !  0  what 
madness,  what  enormous  wickedness  I 


'^  -Voiii^a  02!-  wAfii!{iNa. 

Tlioa  art  a  child  of  torath.  Eph.  ii.  3.  And  0,  what 
words  can  express,  or  what  inind  can  conceive,  all  that  is 
meant  by  this  !  Every  thing  threatens  wrath  to  thee.  Thou 
dost  not  yet,  indeed,  gnaw  thy  tongue  for  pain,  or  gnash  ihy 
teeth  in  sg:uiy,  but  thou  shalt  shortly  do  so,  if  grace  prevent 
not.  T  dare  not  call  thee  a  "vessel  of  wrath  fitted  for  destruc- 
tion," Rom.  ix.  22 ;  (or  who  knows  but  thy  God  may 
yet  pluck  thee  as  a  brand  from  the  burning;  but  at  least  I 
know  that  so  Vnvy  as  thou  reniainest  unconverted,  thou  art 
treasuring  up  wrath  aaainsl  the  day  of  wrath.  And  if  to  be 
a  child  of  wrath  be  so  awfnl  a  thing,  even  when  seen  afar  oft" 
in  this  place  of  uiercy,  0  what  must  be  the  horrors  of  that 
wrath  throughout  eternity  !  A  child  of  wrath  ! — that  is,  all 
made  up  of  wrath — whose  ver)  being  is  wraihl  The  a^' 
thou  shalt  breathe  in  shall  be  wrath —buraing  wrath  I  The 
light  in  which  thou  shalt  dwell  shall  be  scorching  wrath  ; 
how  difterent  from  the  pleasant  sunshine  of  earth,  and  the 
cool  fresh  air  of  m.  rning  !  Wrath  shall  be  within  thee  and 
around  thee ;  above  thee  and  beneath  thee :  wrath  shall  throb 
in  every  pulse  and  flow  in  every  vein  !  And  it  shall  be  for 
EVER  !  O  that  word  which  sums  up  all  despair!  For  ever  I 
The  eternal  wrath  of  the  eternal  God ;  the  unchangeable 
wrath'  of  the  unchangeable  God  !  Poor  child  ot  wrath,  wilt 
thou  n(  \  turn  and  flee  ? 

Then  art  a  child  of  the  devil!  Matt.  xiii.  38 ;  Acts  xiii.  10. 
Satan  is  thy  master,  and  thou  art  his  willing  slave.  Poor 
miserable  soul,  canst  thou  be  content  with  such  a  master  and 
such  a  bondage?  Remember!  thy  bondage  is  eternal,  thy 
chains  eternal,  thy  prison-house  eternal,  thy  torment  and  thy 
tormenters  are  eternal !  If  thou  diest  oat  of  Christ,  hell  must 
be  thy  habitation  for  ever.  0  what  an  abode  I — amid  flames 
and  wrath  ;  echoing  eternally  with  waiiiugs  of  woe  that  raig-ht 
melt  the  very  mouutaia-rock !  It  is  called  "a  lake  burning 
with  fire  and  brimstone,"  Rev.  xxi.  8  ;  Psal.  xi.  6 ;  that  is, 
with  the  hottest,  fiercest,  most  penetrating,  most  tormenting 
of  all  flames.  It  is  called  a  lake.  Not  a  river,  whose  waters 
of  burning  anguish  might  be  dried  up  or  pass  away ;  nor  a 
sea  which  ebbs  and  flows,  and  whose  wide  extent  or  perpetual 
change,  or  wind-swept  surface  might  furnish  some  respite 
some  cooling  relief.    No  ;  bat  a  lake—^iill,  stagnant,  gloomy, 


aud  unchangeable !  But  more  than  this—thy  soul  ilseif  shall 
be  its  own  hell.  Even  were  there  no  flames  without,  the 
furnace  within  shall  be  torment  beyond  enduraice.  Thy 
passions,  thy  unsatisfied  desires,  thy  conscience,  \'ili  be  thy 
worst  tormentors,  worse  than  all  the  fiends  of  daikness  — 
tormentors  from  which  thou  canst  not  flee.  All  that  thou 
mio'htest  have  caiucd,  all  that  thou  hast  lost  fo-c\  er,  shall 
cui^se  thee  with  thy  bitter  memory.     P^irth  cost—in-^ndi.  lost 

possessions  /os^— time   loH — the  soul  /o*-^— he-rcn   loiit — 

eternity  undone !  Poor  sinner,  why  wilt  thou  not  live  ? 
Precious  immortal,  why  wilt  thou  die?  Prov.  i.  28;  Ezek. 
xxxiii.  11. 

Poor  Christless  scul  what  a  bitter  lot  is  thine  I  What  ji 
doom  of  wrath  and  woe  I  To  bo  tormented  day  and  night 
foi  ever,  in  presence  of  the  holy  angels  and  in  pr.3seuce  of 
the  Lamb  I  The  bottomless  pit  incloses  thee  fur  ever,  and 
seals  thy  evei  histing  despair.  Ah !  the  most  d  slant  and 
lonely  hill  of  immortality  would  be  welcome  in  comparison 
with  "this;  aye,  the  gloomiest  wilderness  of  ».artu  would  be 
Paradise  when  compared  with  this!  There  j.-y  i«  a  thing 
unknown.  Love  is  a  thing  forgotten  ;  or  remembered  only 
as  a  part  of  the  once  familiar  fccenes  of  earth,  now  gone  for 
ever  !  No  peace  nor  hope  in  all  the  God  torsnk  3n  region:'i 
of  the  damned!  No  Saviour  troubles  you  now  wiUi  his 
off'ers  of  life.  No  God  wearies  you  with  his  messages  of 
love.  Life  and  love  belong  oaly  to  heaven :  and  tnou  art  in 
hell.  Thy  portion  is  the  second  death.  Who  shall  undo 
your  prison-bolt,  or  unbind  you  chain  i  Who  shall  fetch 
water  to  pour  upon  the  unquenchable  tire,  or  obiaiu  even  one 
drop  to  cool  vour  buridng  tongue?  Who  shail  dig  the  worm 
that  never  dies,  out  of  your  tortured  marrow  ?  Who  shall 
sooth  your  hopeless  wailing,  or  dry  np  youi  everlasting 
tears  ?  No  friends  now  ;  no"" companions  now  !  The  mirth 
of  the  world  is  over,  and  all  its  glory  is  departed.  The  song 
and  the  dance  are  over.  Job  xxi.  12,  13.  The  revelry  ot 
midnight  is  hushed,  and  the  pleasant  sunshine  of  earth  has 
been  ^exchani^ed  for  the  bhickness  of  darkness  forever. 
With  all  thts'e  certainties  in  view,  01  what  is  tiiis  world  to 
a  dying  creature  ?  VVhat  are  all  its  pleasures  or  its  business 
to  a  being  formed  for  immortality  ?    Poor  dying  sinner !  dost 


4  Vroil.t>9  Of   WAKKiNU. 

thou  not  know  that  <lesu3  died  that  lie  might  deliver  you  froni 
the  present  evil  world  ?  Poor  child  of  sin  and  dust,  wilt 
thou  not  become  an  heir  of  endless  glory  ? 

Sinner  as  thou  art,  still  there  is  hope— hope  for  Uixe ;  for 
thou  art  in  the  place  of  hope.  This  Is  the  acceptable  year  of 
the  Lord,  and  God  willcth  not  that  any  should  perish  but 
that  all  should  come  to  re])entancc.  1  Tim.  ii.  42  ;  ]^eter  iii 
6.  He  has  no  pleasure  in  your  death,  lie  lays  his  solemn 
command  on  thee  that  thou  shouldst  believe  and  be  saved ;  so 
that  the  highest  act  of  iniquity,  is  to  refuse  salvation,  to  re- 
fuse the  free  gift  of  life !  lie  entreats  thee  to  turn  and  live. 
He  yearns  over  thee  with  a  father's  tender  love.  Yes  !  the 
love  of  thy  God  is  a  true  and  sincere  love.  It  is  no  mere 
idea,  it  is  reality.  The  words  in  which  he  has  declared  this 
to  thee  are  not  the  lanji'uagc  of  mockery.  They  do  mean  all 
that  they  scein  to  do  ;  only  they  come  infinitely  short  of  the 
sincerity,  the  warmth,  the  tenderness  of  his  paternal  affec- 
tion. They  are  but  rays  from  the  Sun  of  love.  They  arc 
but  the  scattered  drops  from  the  ocean,  the  measureless 
ocean  of  the  Father's  love ! 

Poor  sinner  !  if  thou  diest,  it  is  not  because  of  any  want  of 
love  in  God  or  any  want  o\  sufficiency  in  Christ.  Il  is  not 
because  God  would  not  be  reconciled  to  thee,  but  because 
thou  wouldst  not  be  reconciled  to  God.  His  heart  is  toward 
thee ;  bis  desires  are  toward  thee.  Your  sins  and  iniquities 
have  not  made  him  cease  to  care  for  you.  Ilis  interest  in 
your  welfare  is  still  as  sincere  as  deep.  Not  that  he  pal- 
liates your  sin,  or  excuses  your  continuance  in  it ; — no  ;  but 
that  he  longs  to  deliver  you  from  it;  and  so  warm  and  tender 
is  the  interest  which  he  takes  in  you,  that  he  seeks  to  com- 
pass this  deliverance  by  every  means.  Do  not  suppose  that 
there  must  be  something  good  about  you  before  he  can  feel 
kindly  towards  you.  His  thoughts  towards  you  have  always 
been,  and  still  are,  thoughts  of  unutterable  compassion.  In 
your  misery,  in  your  forlorn  state  of  sin  and  danger,  there  is 
something  which  calls  forth  the  affectionate  interest  of  Him 
who  made  you.  O,  despise  not,  distrust  not,  love  so  infinite 
so  divine.  Do  not  wait,  do  not  delay.  Do  not  say,  '•  I  must 
try  to  prepare  myself  for  coming  to  God."  No !  Com©  at 
once :  come  as  ijoxi  are :  come  this  moment ! 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH  8.5 


